Morgan
Her Wicked Marquess (Sinful Wallflowers #2) by Stacy Reid
The sinful wallflowers are a group of ladies who want to take ahold of their lives and their futures and live the way they want to. This is the second book in the sinful wallflowers series, but we don’t see much of Kitty from the first book. There are a few mentions of her, but not many. I was hoping to see more of her and the duke, but this book can definitely be read as a standalone.
Maryann’s parents have arranged for her to marry an older man who is really sleazy and terrible to her (and others). In order to escape the marriage, she plans to be ruined by Nicolas who is a notorious rake. When a scandal sheet writes that Nicolas was seems climbing out someone’s bedchamber window but they don’t know whose window it was, she decides this is her chance. Maryann very loudly tells her friend at a party that it was her window he climbed out of and that he kissed her thoroughly. As she planned, others overheard and spread this rumor. Nicolas is intrigued by Maryann and why she started this rumor. He actually sneaks into her bedchamber that night, and questions her. He quickly becomes infatuated with her and allows her to continue using his name. He sneaks into her room on multiple occasions and they talk and play games and get to know each other.
Meanwhile, Nicolas is trying to find and ruin five men who hurt a past love and friend. He thinks Maryann’s brother might be involved in this, so he knows he needs to distance himself from her, but he cannot. There were a few twists in this book about the investigation and surrounding events. However, they were semi-predictable. The twist regarding which men were involved, I figured out rather quickly.
Nicolas is a great example of an “alphamellow” hero. He is very fierce and many men are scared of him. Few would dare cross him. However, he is completely captivated and a mushy marshmallow when it comes to Maryann. He has the fiercest desire to have her physically, but also to protect her and keep her safe. I loved how they developed such a flirtatious friendship first. I also really appreciated how open and honest they were with each other. They really didn’t keep anything from each other, and that was so refreshing to see! There was no miscommunication in this book, and they openly shared even their smallest thoughts with each other. Their romance, though developed in secret, was so swoony!
4.5 stars
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.